Does my guinea pig have mites?

[archiescorner]

We got him a while ago from a pet shop (they didn’t say anything about possible illness or mites) and we have had him for maybe a 2 months now and i’ve noticed he has started pulling out his fur. We went to the vet to see if he has mites and the vet gave us medicine for him but he still is pulling his fur and the vet suggested it could be a possible allergy to sawdust? I added a photo because i’m really not sure what it is.

 

[Piggies&buns]

We cannot tell you what it might be - only a vet can diagnose - but upon seeing something like this in a new piggy my thoughts would certainly be mites or a fungal infection. What medicine were you given?
Mites need a course of treatments to kill the full cycle - three separate treatments with set intervals between each treatment, with the dose of treatment being dependent upon the piggy’s weight.
Fungal needs a different kind of treatment

Make sure you exercise good cage hygiene in both cases whether its mites or fungal.
His cage mate ahould also be checked for signs of the same condition and potentially treated depending on the issue.

The guide below details the skin conditions which we see commonly in pet shop piggies

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

 

[Swissgreys]

Poor boy - that looks really nasty and quite painful.
You have had excellent advice from Piggies and Buns above.
I would ask how experienced with guinea pigs your vet is?

That definitely looks like it would be worth a revisit, as I think it needs proper diagnosis and further testing.
Was a skin scraping done to look for mites and culture for fungal?
Does his cage mate appear ok?

 

[archiescorner]

We cannot tell you what it might be - only a vet can diagnose - but upon seeing something like this in a new piggy my thoughts would certainly be mites or a fungal infection. What medicine were you given?
Mites need a course of treatments to kill the full cycle - three separate treatments with set intervals between each treatment, with the dose of treatment being dependent upon the piggy’s weight.
Fungal needs a different kind of treatment

Make sure you exercise good cage hygiene in both cases whether its mites or fungal.
His cage mate ahould also be checked for signs of the same condition and potentially treated depending on the issue.

The guide below details the skin conditions which we see commonly in pet shop piggies

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

Thank you so much! We are going to have another visit to the vet and we have been cleaning his cage pretty much every day so we are hoping for the best. I’m not entirely sure on the medicine he gave felix but we are pretty sure it’s mites because i’ve changed the bedding from sawdust to fleece and he is still scratching (so no allergy to sawdust hopefully).

 

[archiescorner]

Poor boy - that looks really nasty and quite painful.
You have had excellent advice from Piggies and Buns above.
I would ask how experienced with guinea pigs your vet is?

That definitely looks like it would be worth a revisit, as I think it needs proper diagnosis and further testing.
Was a skin scraping done to look for mites and culture for fungal?
Does his cage mate appear ok?

We are going for a revisit soon and I don’t actually remember any skin scraping for mites. I remember one of my piggies a few months back did have the fungal infection and he did the skin scraping that time but not now for some reason? Will make sure to mention that. Do you have any advice for what to do with like his cage mate? We have been cleaning the cage daily now and have set a little wire barrier between them (so they can still see eachother) but i feel like the mites could still jump to the other guinea pig.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please don’t separate your piggies for mites - there is absolutely no benefit in doing so, the mites will still get to the other piggy and at worst can harm their relationship. Please remove the barrier so they can remain together at all times.
You will need to get the correct treatment and clean the cage appropriately, changing your hay source etc as per the guide I linked in above.

If the vet has only given one treatment, then it won’t be a an effective mite treatment as to kill the full life cycle, they need three separate treatments at appropriate intervals as the treatment only kills live mites, so the eggs will still hatch and if not caught by a second treatment, will continue the infestation.

 

[archiescorner]

Please don’t separate your piggies for mites - there is absolutely no benefit in doing so, the mites will still get to the other piggy and at worst can harm their relationship. Please remove the barrier so they can remain together at all times.
You will need to get the correct treatment and clean the cage appropriately, changing your hay source etc as per the guide I linked in above.

If the vet has only given one treatment, then it won’t be a an effective mite treatment as to kill the full life cycle, they need three separate treatments at appropriate intervals as the treatment only kills live mites, so the eggs will still hatch and if not caught by a second treatment, will continue the infestation.

Ah thank you. This has never happened to us before so we weren’t sure to seperate or not but will do. I’ve been checking out the link and definitely will follow along to what’s best for them until we have the vets appointment!